Sighting device for guns



SIGHTING DEVICE FOR GUNS Filed Nov 25, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

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J. BECKER SIGHTING DEVICE FOR GUNS Filed Nov. 25, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 2, 12%.

JULIUS nncxnaor Essen, GERMANY, nssreivoa rormnn. KRUPlP AKTIENGESEItL- r, or assmv-on-rnaaona, GERMANY.

SIGHLEING DEVICE FOR GUNS.

Application filed November 25, 1924. Serial No. 752,159.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS BECKER, residing at Essen Germany, a. citizen of the German Republic, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sighting Devices for Guns, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a sighting device for guns which, such as, for instance, naval guns, are mounted upon a moving base and the sighting device of which is provided with a gyroscope in order to maintain the sighting line in space.- The object of the invention is to provide a sighting device of this kind, which solves for the first time the problem, to automatically render ineffective the disturbing influence exerted by the continuously changing inclination of the horizontal trunnions due to the motion of the ship, upon the adjustment of the gun in lateral direction.

In the accompanying drawing is illustrated an embodiment of the sub ect-matter of the invention by way of example, Fig. 1 being a side-view, partly in section, of a naval gun provided with a sighting device according to the invention, Fig. 2 an enlarged top-view of the sighting device and the adjacent parts of the gun and Fig. 3 a likewise enlarged section on line 33 of Fig. 1, seen from the left.

The gun-barrel, denoted by A, is displaceably mounted in the cradle B, which, in its turn, is mounted in the well-known way on the gum-carriage C by means of two horizontal trunnions b. In order to adjust the elevation of the gun-barrel according to the distance of the aim, there is provided an elevating gear comprising a toothed are 6 which is fixed on the cradle B and engaged by a pinion D which is rotatably mounted on the carriage and equipped with a, hand-wheel D The carriage may be swung in lateral direction upon its platform by means of a training gear equipped with a hand-wheel E, as shown in Fig. 1.

On the one of the two trunnions b there is rigidly fixed a fork-shaped member F, which carries in proximity to the trunnion a pointer F, by means of which the elevation adjusted upon by the hand-wheel D may be read ofi on a distance scale a provided on the carriage, see Fig. 1.

A circular ring G is mounted on the.

forked arms of the member F by means of two co-axial pivots f the axis of which is parallel to the axis of the bore of the gunbarrel. This ring G carries by means of co-axial pivots g the'axis of which intersects the axis of the pivots f at right angles, a casing H which contains the gyroscope J, as shown in Fig. 3. The gyroscope is driven by electric power and rotates within the casing H around a vertical axis which passes through the point. of intersection of the axes of the pivots g and f and is perpendicular to the axis of the pivots g The casing H carries on its upper side a sighting telescope K which maybe swung, for being adjusted in lateral direction, around an axis coinciding with the axis of the gyroscope by means of a worm L. In the average position of the telescope represented in the drawing its sighting line is perpendicular to the plane which is determined by the axis of the gyroscope and the axis of the pivots 9 -As' may be seen from the fore going, the carrier for the sighting means is formed by the gyroscope casing H and is mounted for free swinging motion bymeans of a Cardan joint (9 G, 7 F) upon a frame formed by the gun-carriage C, said frame together with the gun-barrel being adjustable so as to assume the lateral direction to be imparted to the latter. The inner axis of said joint is fixed on the sight carrier (H) and is formed by the axis of the pivots g while its outer axis is formed by the axis of the pivots f and may be adjusted together with the gun-barrel A to the elevation to be imparted to this latter. The conditions of weight or so chosen, that the common center of gravity of the gyroscope casing H and the parts mounted thereon and the center of gravity of the Cardan ring G will co-incide with the center polnt of the Cardan joint F f G 9 lVhen using the described sighting device, the oasing H of the gyroscope is first adjusted in a well-known way by hand in such a manner that within the sighting field of the telescope K the horizontal wire of the wire-cross will come to lie in an horizontal line passing through the aim, so that the sighting line will be positioned in an aproximately horizontal plane and, accordlngly, the axis of the gyroscope which is perpendicular to this plane Wlll approximately be in a vertical position. By the well-known action of the gyroscope the axis of the latter will then for a sufficiently long time be maintained in this position independently of the changes in the elevation of the gun-barrel which may be due to the rolling motion of the ship or to the useof the elevating gear. The sighting line thus will remain in an approximately horizontal plane passing through the aim. Since the axis of the horizontal trunnions during the rolling motion of the ship will generally have an inclined position,'the vertical plane passing through the sighting line will alternately change its angular posltion in lateral direction in the one or the other sense, so that the center of the wirecross will move to and fro in anhorizontal line by an amount by which the point of impact of the gun would be laterally displaced according to the inclination of thefrunmons just existing. The lateral deviatlon of the center of the wire-cross, however, w1ll be compensated for by the fact that by rotating the hand-wheel E of the training gear the gun-carriage C is swung on its platform n opposite sense, so that the sighting lme will remain directed on the aim. As the vertical plane determining the main lateral direction of the sighting line, which plane passes through the axis of the gyroscope and is positioned at right angles to the axis of the pivots g, passes through the ax1s of the pivots f and as this ax1s is constantly parallel to the axis of the bore of the gunbarrel, the vertical plane passing through the latter axis, that is to say the firing plane, will constantly be parallel to said vertical plane determinin the main lateral direction of the sighting hne. If the sighting line be directed to the aim, the gun, at every elevation of the gun-barrel and at every inclination of the tl'llIllllOllS, Wlll therefore be correctly adjusted in lateral direction upon the aim.

The adjustment of the elevation of the gun-barrel which corresponds to the (118- tance of the aim, is accomplished independently from the sighting device, by bringing the gun-barrel, for instance by means of the elevating gear, into such an angular position, that the pointer f will register with the line of the scale 0 WhlCll corresponds to the distance of the aim. The axis of the bore will then form with a base line fixed upon the gun-carriage an angle which is equal-to the required elevation of the gun-barrel. The firing of the gun takes place at that moment, at which during the rolling motion of the ship the base hne has come into an horizontal position, which may be determined by wellknown means forming no part of this invention. The firing of the n, moreover, can take place at every inclination of this base line, if the gun-barrel is kept adjusted by means of the elevating gear upon an elevation which differs by an amount equal to the angle of inclination of said base line from the elevation required with an horizontal position of said line.

The sighting device according to the invention substantially differs from known devices having a gyroscope mounted in a Cardan joint, in that the outer Cardan axis, as above explained, is adjustable to the elevation to be given to the axis of the gunbarrel, whereby the errors in adjusting the gun which are due to the inclination of the trunnions are systematically eliminated for every range.

It is unessential for the invention that the frame C, upon which the carrier for the sighting means is mounted by means of a Cardan joint, forms at the same time the carriage of the gun. This frame (C) could also be placed at any desired point of the ship at a distance from the gun station, such as for instance at the observing station, in which case said frame would have to be mounted so as to swing in the same manner as the gun-carriage. For this purpose it would only be necessary to take care, for instance by means of a pointer arrangement of known construction in connection with an electrically operated long distance-transmission, that the gun-carriage may be adjusted in lateral direction in parallel with the frame C, and that the axis of the bore of the gun-barrel may be' adjusted in parallel with the axis of the pivots f Claims.

1. A sighting device for guns having a base subjected to rocking movements, such as naval guns, comprising a frame rotatable in lateral direction, an adjustable member rotatable on said frame about a horizontal axis, a gyroscope, a bearing member on which the gyroscope may rotate, a Cardan joint connecting said bearing member to the member adjustable relatively to the frame, the outer axis of said Cardan joint being arranged at right angles to the axis of rotation of said adjustable member, and sighting means carried by the bearing member of the, gyroscope.

2. In a gun having a base subjected to rocking movements, such as naval guns, a carriage rotatable on said base in lateral direction and a gun barrel provided with horizontal trunnions rotatably mounted on the carriage, a sighting device comprising an adjustable member rotatable on the carriage about an axis having the same direction as the axis of the horizontal trunnions, a gyroscope, a bearing member on which the gyroscope may rotate, a Cardan joint, connecting said bearing member to the adjustable member rotatable on the carriage, the outer axis of said Cardan joint being arranged at right III angles to the axis of the trunnions, and sighting means carried by said bearing member of the gyroscope.

3. In a gun having a base subjected to rocking movements, such as naval guns, a carriage rotatable on said base in lateral direction and a gun barrel provided with horizontal trunnions rotatably mounted on the carriage, a sighting device comprising a gyroscope, a bearing member on which the gyroscope may rotate, a Cardan joint connecting said bearing member to one of the trunnions, the outer axis of said Gardan joint being arranged at right angles to the axis of the trunnions, and sighting means carried by said bearing member of the gyroscope.

4. A sighting device for guns having a.

base subjected to rocking movements, such as naval guns, comprising a frame rotatable in lateral direction, an ad ustable member rotatable on said frame about a horizontal axis, a gyroscope, a bearing member on which the gyroscope may rotate, a' Cardan joint connecting said bearing member to the member adjustable relatively to the frame,- the outer axis of said Cardan joint being arranged at right angles the axis of rotation of said adjustable member and the inner axis arranged at right angles to said outer axis and the axis of rotation of the gyroscope, and sighting means carried by the bearing member of the gyroscope, said sighting means establishing a sighting line to the main direction of which is at right angles to the inner axis of the Cardan joint and the axis of rotation of the gyroscope.

The foregoing specification signed at Essen, Germany, this 29th day of October, 1924:.

JULIUS BECKER. 

